S. Awan is an independent journalist, culture lover and student of history, navigating the depths of various aspects of culture, politics, music, film, the controversial and the weird.
Also a musician, and part-time freelance, involuntary human being. Also occasionally lives on the moon. Also is a ghost. And a cigarette butt that hasn't been put out properly; so, you know, there's still, like, smoke coming out of it and stuff...

And it is a pretty big rabbit-hole – based entirely on the location where this incident is said to have happened.

Which we will get to in a moment; and then you can decide for yourselves how relevant you think it is or isn’t. But first, let’s just do the basics.

In another month, I would’ve assumed or accepted that the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was – as we’re being told – a hit by Russian intelligence operatives.

My own personal opinion is still – and I know that this puts me at odds with most conspiracy theory writers – that Alexander Litvenenko was assassinated by Russian agents via pollonium poisoning. Most of what I’ve read over the years (from various sources) makes me inclined to lean towards that explanation.

I also firmly believe that the Russian intelligence community routinely assassinates problematic Russians (seen as a threat to the regime or the state narrative) both at home and abroad, an example being the killing of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

However, the problem with this current incident is that it occurs just days after the UK Defense Minister announced that Britain’s security establishment was shifting its attention away from terrorism and onto Russia as the major threat to the UK. I in fact wrote about that here on Saturday, and about reported anxieties in Russia that some kind of false-flag was being prepped to blame on Russia.

And then, a few days later, this poisoning incident occurs – and immediately, government officials and news media run with an official narrative pinning the incident directly on Putin.

There are also a couple of other, darker reasons to not necessarily trust the official narrative – which you’ll see shortly.

For the sake of a balanced view, let’s acknowledge that Russian agents may well have been behind this latest incident; there’s two things that make this seem more than possible, one being all the previous hits carried out on problematic Russians and the other being the fact that Skripal had previously been one of those alleging that the Russian FSB had staged the apartment-building bombings and other false-flag ops in Russia in order to bring Putin to power – which would make Skripal not just a defector and dissident, but also someone liable to undermine the image of both Putin and the Russian state.

On that front, I also believe – based on unbiased, objective reading of the available facts and various sources – that the 1999 apartment-bombingswere false-flag operations (which I have said here before) designed to justify Russian military activity at the time and to consolidate the present regime’s hold on power.

My view has always been that Putin used the apartment-bombing false-flag in the same way that the Neo-Con regime in the United States used 9/11 – as a premise for a foreign military operation (in this case, the Chechen War) and as a means of consolidating power and establishing a firmer stranglehold across Russia’s institutions.

And, as I said, I have no doubts whatsoever that the Russian intelligence service kills Russians it deems a liability, whether at home or abroad.

In this specific, current instance, however, it is just too coincidental that the British Defense Minister was saying just days ago that Russia (and not extremist terrorists) is now the major threat to the UK: and that he had specifically said that resources were now being pulled away from counter-terrorism operations and onto the Russian threat instead.

And then, a few days later, another Russian enemy of Putin’s just happens to be targeted for poisoning in Salisbury.

The newspapers have said today that the ‘Counter Terrorism Policing’ network is handling the investigation – which precisely matches what the Defense Minister was saying a week or so ago about pulling focus and resources away from the terrorism threat and onto the Russian threat.

This Skripal poisoning is just too conveniently fitting into the pre-scripted narrative.

The idea, no doubt, is that Putin’s complicity will be believed precisely because the Russian intelligence community does genuinely carry out hits on dissident Russians.

Sergei Skripal is an interesting character. Skripal worked for Soviet intelligence during the Cold War, but was recruited by MI6 in the 1990s as a double-agent – and was later part of a ‘spy exchange’ (for Russian sleeper agents discovered to be operating in the US). It isn’t clear from anything I’ve read as to whether he was still at this time an active MI6 agent – but, presumably, any double-agent who has worked for Soviet intellience and MI6 is never really ‘retired’.

I have always assumed that secret agents (and double agents) get bumped off all the time – and that most of the time, we never hear about it.

The 66-year-old former Russian Army colonel, and his 33-year old daughter Yulia Skripal, are described as being critically ill at a Salisbury hospital as of writing this: authorities describe the cause of their condition as “suspected exposure to an unknown substance.”

There is something else worthy of noting here too: and this is where we go down a very curious rabbit-hole.

The Independent’scoverage stated that, despite there being no official word about toxicology reports, ‘experts’ had suggested the use of ‘nerve agents’.

But it’s this next bit that’s important to note. Because the article notes that one of the most powerful nerve agents (‘VX’) is developed at the British Ministry of Defense Porton Down facility. The same article also notes that this ‘VX’ is the same agent that was used to assassinate Kim Jong-nam at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February last year.

This is a curious thing to mention, because there’s been no toxicology report yet or official statement about which substance was involved – so why have some news sources bothered talking about a specific nerve agent or the fact that said substance is manufactured at the MoD’s Porton Down facility? And why also mention the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in a news story reacting to the unrelated alleged poisoning of a former Russian agent in Salisbury?

Stranger still, the Porton Down facility is just down the road from Salisbury (about 5 miles), where Skripal and his daughter were allegedly discovered.

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In fact, the MP for Salisbury, John Glenn, referenced this himself when talking to the BBC about the Skripal incident. He said “Fortunately just down the road in my constituency at Porton Down defence, science and technology labs exist and they will have taken the substance and will be trying to evaluate what they can.”

Of course, what he’s saying is that the substance will be analysed there – but what he was also reminding us, deliberately or by accident, is that Skripal was found only a short distance from an installation that specialises in producing and experimenting with chemical agents.

For the record, the implication (from the various texts I’ve read) is that Porton Down’s activities have been so secretive that the vast majority of political officials (and especially Members of Parliament) have absolutely no idea of what has really gone on there.

Porton Down is an infamous, controversial location, which just happens to be linked to one of the darker sides of Britain’s military or defense establishment.

Porton Down is regarded, even on Wikipedia, as one of the most secretive locations in the United Kingdom. It is by now well known that Porton Down, under the MoD, has been involved in chemical warfare research and human testing, and that up to 20,000 people took part in experiments there between the 1950s and up to 1989.

This has all been covered over many years in mainstream media once the controversies became too difficult to entirely ignore or cover-up. In the 1950s it was called the Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment.

A 2015 article in The Independent confirms that thousands of people were subject to chemical and biological warfare trials. By 2006, 500 veterans claimed they had suffered long term ill-health as a result of the experiments, and MoD agreed to pay out some £360 million to many of these people, though continuing to deny liability.

There are also lonstanding claims (credible or not) that the Porton Down installation is where extra-terrestrial bodies from a UFO crash were taken. There was at least one claim in the last couple of years by an ex-soldier that the military had allowed non-human beings to experiment on him at Porton Down. As much as I would genuinely love to digress into an article about that subject, I’ll avoid that part of it here – like I said, it’s a massive rabbit-hole.

But, hey, it gets worse.

Porton Down is also linked to another very high-profile figure linked to intelligence operations and, as it happens, assassination: Dr David Kelly, the ‘weapons expert’ who was found dead in the lead-in to the illegal invasion of Iraq.

David Kelly was the head of ‘biological defense’ research at Porton Down.

A 2008 docu-film, Anthrax War, asserts that the late David Kelly in fact had links to illegal human experiments on British servicemen at Porton Down.

Bob Coen’s film suggests even that Kelly was one of the key minds behind the West’s germ warfare programmes.

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A Daily Mailarticle from 2009 relayed that Kelly’s ‘computers linked him to Britain’s intelligence services MI5 and MI6, GCHQ, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Foreign Office and foreign spy agencies – including Israel’s notorious Mossad (for whom he had worked since 1995 as an advisor with the blessing of Whitehall)...’ and references ‘tens of thousands of documents and photographs; some show human victims of anthrax poisoning, as well as animal ‘guinea pigs’ poisoned with anthrax and other germs in labs across the world.’

Interestingly – and I’m not suggesting this necessarily relates to the Skripal poisoning at all – the same Daily Mail article from 2009 also has another interesting passage, stating that ‘Amazingly, 12 other well-known micro-biologists linked with germ warfare research have died in the past decade, five of them Russians investigating claims that the Israelis were working on viruses to target Arabs… The Russian plane in which they were travelling from Tel Aviv to Siberia was shot down on October 2001 over the Black Sea by an ‘off-course’ Ukrainian surface-to-air missile…’

It adds, ‘Dr Kelly knew the victims and asked MI6 to find out more details.‘

As Alice said, when falling down her fictional rabbit-hole: “Curiouser and curiouser…”

It’s all pretty depressing stuff. Of course, none of us will really know the absolute truth. It seems very curious, however, that Skripal’s location in Salisbury is so close to Porton Down.

It also seems very convenient for the British defense establishment to have this incident happen now (days after the announcement of the shift in threat focus from terrorists to Russia) and also very bad timing for the Russian intelligence community to try to kill Skirpal at this specific time of heightened tension – when, presumably, they could’ve done so any time in the last decade-plus.

Like this:

Related

Yup, got it down there. Not some pure drama cops and spook thriller. Or, all’s well, that… As you say; ‘It’s all pretty depressing stuff. ‘ Try taking some comfort in the piercing of a boil. The dragging-on is dragging us down. See what lies-can come out but we know this one’s about as official and secret as can get. You’ll know that song, ‘shot, shot, by both sides’ — once wrote a post once under this. Suggesting more than less across power-blocks is fake friction. This latest makes y’wonder? Might it be somewhat less than cooperation but pre-disclosure allowing limited preparation? Unless Skripal had some diagnosed terminal illness or unusual reasons, likely a whistle-blower? When his daughter visits? Extra punishment, or something intended to ‘pass on’. Knew the surveillance and oversight. Outside and away from ears, tells her what? And easy to get wound right-up and the ‘British defense establishment’ and over-react. Put the rosy glasses on for Vlad and co. The historical bent is the UK banking-based cult pulling strings. How much does this turn all it touches, to match in malevolence and the destructive. How much all Govt. hierarchy, all more of the same? Where’s Robin Hood and some benevolent ones? When’s the lid flying full-off, for restraint, or some change for better?

Politkovskaya was investigating corruption. This means she could have had targets which worried the west as well. Her case has done good service for western propaganda. Perhaps it was time to martyrise her before she turned the wrong stone? Just speculating of course.

The Nemtsov murder likewise was blamed on Putin, but Nemtsov was definitely worth more as a dead martyre to the west. Those caught were Chechenians but that could have been arranged by any master mind.
The appartment bombings were covered by the CNN and an expert estimated the strength of the explosion to be 100-300 tons tnt. Suggesting it had been hidden in an underground pipe or a car.
The CNN cleansed the web from the article. Somebody realized it must have been a mininuclear bomb. Motive: to get Russia aligned in the war on terror to pave the way for another UN-backed invasion of Irak. Actually Israel would have wanted them to attack Iran instead.
Litvinenko’s poisoning with Po210 happened in a clumsy manner, via another individual who left traces everywhere he went. Looks like it was intended to be detected.
Another strong Putin-critic( Berezovsky together with Litvinenko?)who had blamed the appartmentbombings on him, was poisoned in Britain and was offered the best healthcare resources available in Britain but instead fled to Russia. Figure that.

Yes indeed this rabbit hole is very deep and sadly the propaganda war is in full swing on mainstream media. The people are being conditioned to accept the coming war with Russia, and or China. Once again, our lives will be sacrificed to protect us from the “evils of the world”.

It’s not just the news providing us with the officially sanctioned opinions they want us to have. It is also political programmes (Question Time), documentaries (Putin: The New Tsar) and even dramas (McMafia) and entertainments (the Olympics) that are brainwashing the masses with the chosen narrative – Russia is bad and wants to do us harm. They did it in 2016 with the EU Referendum – EU bad. They did it in 2014 with the Scottish Independence Referendum – SNP bad. They did it in 2003 in Iraq – Saddam bad. They did it in 2011 in Libya – Gaddafi bad. They did it with Syria since 2011 – Assad bad. They did it with 9/11 – Islamic terrorists bad. The pattern is clear and now that we have demonstrated that we will obey the programming, that we will give up our freedoms to be safe, they can move closer to the final stage. Once they can be sure that we will not question them, or take to the streets in protest, they will tell us the world must stand up to Russia and a world war will start that will either destroy the planet or kill billions of people.

We are being walked slowly, step by propaganda step, to our death. And for what? Safety and security, I doubt it. More likely it is for dominance and acquisition of natural resources. This time round we are not the defenders of the world – we will be the aggressors. This will not be a war against fascism – it will be a trade war dressed up in humanitarian sheep skin. Instead of fighting for Queen and Country (or freedom and democracy) – we will be fighting for the Oligarchs and their wealth.

While I am not saying Putin is a saint, or a saviour, I do not buy the main western theme that he is an evil dictator. Yes he is a leader with great power but to me his main interest is in protecting his country from those who wish to do it harm. He may not always use that power in the best interests of his people, but what leader has. He will have made some mistakes over the last 18 years, but he is not some Bond villain obsessed with world domination either. His country was looted and brought to its knees by the West when the Soviet Union ended in the early 90’s. He lived through it, he saw from close quarter that Yeltsin let it happen, can anyone really blame him for wanting to protect his country from Western vultures.

To counter the growing strength of the Russian Federation and Putin on the world stage history is being quietly rewritten – if you ask folk who won the Second World War they will say America. But compared to the sacrifices of the Soviet Union the Americans late participation in the war was a picnic in the park. Ask folk which country is the only country to have used a nuclear weapon in war time on an enemy and they will tell you Russia or China, not America. Only a puppet leader would allow this narrative to continue and Putin is nobody’s puppet. Putin is no Yeltsin.

Apologies if I am now sounding like a Putinista but to be honest if we don’t counter the prevailing narrative, if we don’t get out of the propaganda bubble, we will not live long enough to regret it. Our lives are at stake and we must now all speak up to stop the unthinkable happening.

It is time to see the propaganda war being waged by the likes of BBC, Sky, Channel 4, ITV together with the print media, all banging the drums of war. This weeks top story, with 24/7 coverage is a story that could very well be the trigger that takes us into WW3 (a war that cannot be won). Now you might think that I am being a little bit over dramatic here, and that is your right. It is up to you to accept or reject my opinion. I am simply following my instinct for survival because if we don’t all wake up soon it will be too late. There will be no coming back if we allow ourselves to believe the propaganda being spewed out by the mainstream media about Russia, Syria, Iran, North Korea and (no I’m not defending him) even Trump.

The mainstream media, instead of acting as guardians of truth, or holding government to account, are acting as the main propaganda wing of the war hawks. Within hours the mainstream media has condemned Russia as the perpetrators of this attack in Salisbury despite the investigation having barely started. How many times have your read or heard that Putin and the Russian State is directly responsible for this attack. Before any of the facts are known by the authorities, the mainstream media is telling us who is responsible. They are not providing us with a news service, they are giving us the officially sanctioned opinion and making sure you agree with it.

Let’s do a little exercise in critical thinking for a minute. Who benefits from this?

o How would it benefit Putin to order this attack in Britain two weeks before he faces the electorate?
o Putin is an astute politician, why would he do something which would damage Russia’s relationship with Britain?
o Does it make sense for him to do this and risk the backlash of the international community?
o Would he risk the possible damaging consequences to the Russian economy if the international community decided to increase sanctions on Russian, especially energy exports, all for the sake of revenge on a relatively unknown Russian traitor?
o Would any of the above win Putin votes in the Presidential Election?
o How did they get the nerve agent into the UK? As with the Litvinenko case no one is telling us how the highly toxic substance was brought, or even bought, in the UK. Why?

The media are not asking these questions, so we must.

All week we have all seen the live pictures from Salisbury showing the authorities taking every precaution to prevent further contamination and protect the public. The mainstream media have made sure to highlight these measures. Yet when they show us picture from Syria they expect us to believe that Syrian “rebels” can investigate chemical weapons attacks:

o without a single piece of protective clothing;
o while smoking a cigarette and wearing sandals;
o while not preventing locals from getting near to the alleged chemical munitions; and
o without taking steps to limit contamination of hospitals where those affected were taken.

Everything the “rebels” do is used as evidence that Assad is using chemical weapons on his people despite their comical pantomime routine videos. Do a little internet image search and play spot the difference between what is happening in Salisbury and what has happened in Syria. It’s not a difficult game but it is extremely informative.

The Syrian Government, with the help of Russia and other allies, has all but defeated the so called rebels and the Islamic State. So just as the events in Ukraine were punishment for Russia getting involved in Syria and the Middle East, so this new Russian status as Public Enemy No.1 is punishment for destroying the West’s proxy army in the Middle East. The Western bully does not take kindly to anyone standing up to it.

We all must be vigilant now and fact check everything we are being told. We can no longer afford to accept unchallenged the narrative being propagated by the mainstream media. We must put in the effort to think critically, to look at both sides of the story and hunt down the facts like our lives depend on it. Because now, our lives do depend on it, the Doomsday Clock is the closest it has ever been to midnight. Lets not let it reach midnight because we were too busy, too lazy, too distracted, too susceptible to the propaganda, to do something about it.

That’s all brilliantly put, Trinkats. And I can feel your passion/anger. I agree with all of it.
On my part, I’m not massively pro-Putin or pro-Russia – but I wasn’t ‘pro-Saddam’ either: just pro-humanity, pro-logic and anti-bullshit.
You make a really sharp point about the contrast between British personnel all kitted up in Salisbury and the White Helmets not even wearing gloves. But no one’s going to make those points in the MSM or newspapers.
I am actually, for the first time, starting to panic about where things are headed very soon.

I think, Queen Elizabeth falls in love with Putin, but when she was not loved by him, she prepared this game, haha! Kidding aside my earthling friend, “this rice dish will get more water still,”; this is an idiom at east to tell the situation like that. And I guess, when you have got time, maybe you would update this post in the light of new developments after this post’s date. Like 3 days ago, Czech Republic president Milos Zeman said, “an A230 nerve agent was produced in small quantities and tested by the Czech defense research institute in Brno in November 2017, quoting the reports by the domestic intelligence service and military intelligence. The president also said that the substance was destroyed shortly after.” – it is quote from sputnik-

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